L'impossible disjonction: dit et non-dit dans Lokis de Prosper Mérimée

The epigraph of "Lokis" is to be read as a mise en abyme of the functioning of the narration as a whole. Every unit of meaning is structured in a twofold way: for every dit there is always a non-dit. This pattern can be checked in two ways. On the actantial level, first of all, it brings about the subversion of Wittembach's narrative program – Wittembach who, as opposed to what have stated some "Lokis" readers, cannot be considered as the unambiguous representative of culture and authority. His narrative status is undermined by a non-dit that reveals his intimacy with everything he wants to eliminate, that is the suggested animality of Count Szémioth. On the level of knowledge circulating in the text, secondly, Wittembach's first function of brushing aside disturbing animality, is parasited by the opposing function of pointing towards abasement. As a consequence, the relationship between Wittembach and Szémioth cannot be read as a dichotomy between culture and nature: both characters are exchangeable. In "Lokis," only mélange is meaningful. The absence of boundaries between order and abjection, between humanity and animality confronts the reader of this short story with the impossible efficiency of separation. (In French) (LR)